I love movies, music, and art. I'm a certified graphic designer and love to be creative as much as humanly possible. ⨺

It's no secret that the filmmaking capital of the United States is no longer California. The entertainment industry has shifted overseas and up into Canada, but it has also settled in unexpected parts of the United States. One of these locations is the state of Georgia. Due to great tax incentives, and a lot of open space, many television and film productions have settled in the state such as The Walking Dead, Archer, The Vampire Diaries, Sleepy Hollow, The Hunger Games franchise, and several films from Disney/Marvel Studios.

Disney and Marvel Studios have wrapped quite a few productions in the state of Georgia such as Ant-Man and Captain America: Civil War. They are also currently parked in Atlanta for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and it was announced that Thor: Ragnarok would be filming at Atlanta's Pinewood Studios. They have also committed to shooting the two-part Avengers: Infinity War production in Georgia. However, there is a new bump in the road between the Peach State and the film studios.

With the recent announcement of a religious liberties bill passed through the Georgia Legislature. The bill essentially shields opposition of the Supreme Court's ruling to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide, thus giving religious officials legal protection if they refuse to perform a same-sex ceremony. Although it has passed in the state legislature, it still has to be signed by Georgia governor, Nathan Deal. However, the Walt Disney Co. and Marvel Studios has threatened that if the bill is signed into law that they will vacate the premises.

“Disney and Marvel are inclusive companies, and although we have had great experiences filming in Georgia, we will plan to take our business elsewhere should any legislation allowing discriminatory practices be signed into state law.”

There is no telling what exactly will happen with this but so far Governor Deal has not indicated whether he will sign or veto the bill. But, with this recent stance against the bill by such big business I would imagine it will influence a decision to a point. Movie productions bring a lot of revenue and jobs to the locations, so I don't think Georgia will want to repeat what happened to Indiana when they passed similar legislation last year.

However, if Disney and Marvel choose to boycott if the bill is signed by Governor Deal, we might see some delays in future productions as they shop for new shooting locations. That potentially throws off the entire projected Marvel release timeline, but I'm sure they know what they are doing.